TRENTON
– New Jersey engaged in a full-day
TOPOFF3 Cyber Exercise to test the response
of state government’s computer networks
and its information technology policies
and practices in the event a series of
widespread, escalating cyber events ever
struck the state, Acting Governor Richard
J. Codey and Attorney General Harvey announced.

A
prelude to the national TOPOFF 3 Exercise
taking place next week in New Jersey and
Connecticut, as well as in Washington,
D.C., the United Kingdom and Canada, the
TOPOFF3 cyber test, conducted on Wednesday,
featured sophisticated computer tabletop
exercises. These simulations dealt with
situations in which federal, state and
local government information technology
organizations had to respond in concert
to a series of scenarios in which information
technology security was disrupted or breached.

“New
Jersey is uniquely on the front lines
of the war against terror so we have to
be well-prepared,” said Acting Governor
Codey. “New Jersey is better prepared
than many states, but we are putting our
preparedness to a rigorous test through
the full-scale TOPOFF 3 exercise next
week. This week we tested our preparedness
in the cyber realm, learning how we can
protect the information systems we rely
on so extensively from being compromised
by an attack.”

“This
cyber exercise tested our abilities to
respond to the possibility of disruptions
or outages in our computer networks,”
Harvey said. “The exercise provided
a realistic test of our individual agencies’
abilities to perform and perhaps, more
importantly, our agencies’ abilities
to work together across jurisdictions
at the local, state and federal levels.”

“The
TOPOFF exercise allows us to strengthen
any weaknesses to ensure we can continue
to provide the vital services that rely
on our solid, robust technical infrastructure,”
said Charles S. Dawson, Chief Technology
Officer for the state of New Jersey. “These
planning exercises help us prepare to
react if any of our systems is attacked,
damaged or destroyed.”

Participants
in the TOPOFF3 cyber exercise examined
the actions required to limit potential
damage caused by network compromise, and
to minimize the effect on operations.
The
exercise required participants to make
real-time decisions in response to different,
escalating events that slowed or stopped
network operations. These events triggered
management decision-making exercises about
the associated business and communication
functions required to recover the systems
and resume providing essential public
services.

“Working
together with many public sector agencies,
this exercise truly helped us organize
a regional, coordinated response to a
potential cyber event,” said Maria
M. Cardiellos, Chief Information Officer
of the Office of the Attorney General.
“The exercise was an excellent opportunity
to test assumptions and test the human
element that is still the key to maintaining
our technological systems.”